The “digital transformation” of the news industry—brought on initially by the web and later by social media—has been the subject of hundreds of studies and enduring discussions about the role of technology in the future of journalism. This dissertation enters this debate by examining how the structures, logics, and incentives of the social media economy are presently reconfiguring the work of independent digital journalism on global subscription platforms. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 30 independent journalists spanning 9 countries and an analysis of the American subscription platform Substack, I argue that journalists’ labor on subscription platforms mirrors the nature of work undertaken by social media influencers in the “creator economy.” I explore this argument by highlighting three dimensions of their labor that represent how platformization and creator cultures have pervaded journalists’ work: relations with news communities, experiences with precarity, and self-branding and identity management. My findings suggest that global subscription platforms challenge and reimagine the role of identity and subjectivity in news production in spaces largely unsupported by advertising or algorithms. Yet, this emerging space also introduces new inequalities in access, financial success, and sustainability that are familiar concerns from the social media economy and facing full-time cultural producers. I explore this argument with particular attention to voices traditionally excluded from the journalistic mainstream by highlighting journalists from underrepresented communities who are working to reform and reimagine the future of news. I conclude by considering how subscription platforms play a role in challenging the norms and cultures of the institution of journalism—for workers within and beyond the United States—whether or not these challenges lead to meaningful media reform.